The Day I Slept Through Christmas
by Fishcake17
Summary: James stated that the most cherished part of Christmas to him was spending time with his Genin friends, but the next day he ends up discovering that he in fact slept through the entire holiday! -A completed short story-


_**The Day I Slept Through Christmas**_

I woke up thinking that it was just another day. Got up, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, took a shower, and headed out to the bridge where Naruto, Sakura and I would wait for Kakashi every day for the missions assigned to us.

When I arrived, Sakura and Naruto were there as usual, waiting for Kakashi. They greeted me with the usual, "Hey James, how's it going?" generic type greetings, and we just waited there for a few minutes.

Sakura was leaning on the bridge's arm, while Naruto was sitting on it, and I was just standing there not really doing anything. Sakura had been a friend of mine for as long as I could remember being in the village. She's probably the best friend I had in Konoha. Naruto was always really spazzy, but in turn he always entertains me because of it. He and I get along just fine, but occasionally we have a little rivalry going on. Suddenly Naruto jumped off his spot, stood up and said, "Do you guys know what day it is!?"

Sakura gave Naruto an "Isn't it obvious?" look, but I just shrugged, not really knowing what he was talking about. Naruto saw this and said, "It's Christmas Eve Day!!"

I looked at Naruto, looked at Sakura, then looked at Naruto again, then said, "You're kidding me, right? It's seriously Christmas Eve already?"

"Yup!!!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped for joy, "I can't wait to see what presents I'm getting!!!"

"As if you'll get any good ones Naruto," Sakura said somewhat teasingly, "But yeah, I'm curious to see what I get."

"I don't really-" I started, but Naruto interrupted me, finishing, "care what you get as long as you're with your friends, yeah, you say that every year James!"

"Well I mean it every year!" I said, "If I didn't, I wouldn't say it!"

"Uh huh, and what if you didn't get any presents this year, then how would you react?"

"I wouldn't care as long as I got to spend time with you guys."

"I don't believe you for one second!"

"Why not!?"

"Because you already have your presents under the tree already! If you didn't, you'd be all depressed and everything!"

"No I wouldn't. I'd really be depressed if I'd missed the entire day – all that time I could have been spending with you guys and the rest of my friends…that would be horrible to lose." I think I may have gotten a little emotional when I said, "Gifts can be replaced, and gifts can be given at any point in time, but the time we spend with each other can't ever be replaced, and it can't ever be given to you if forgotten or lost. If you lose time, you can't get it back. That's what I see Christmas as: a time to be happy, have the entire day off and to have a good time with all of your friends and family." Though I do admit that I'm a firm believer in "It's the thought that counts" when it comes to gifts.

Naruto looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped himself and ran to Sakura. "Sakura, I gotta tell you something!" exclaimed Naruto, "But James can't hear!"

Sakura gave a "What the heck?" look as Naruto whispered in her ear. As he whispered, Sakura went through a barrage of facial expressions: surprise, smugness, uncertainty and finally excitement. As Naruto withdrew from Sakura, I asked, "What the heck was that all about anyways?"

Sakura piped up and said, "Oh nothing, he was just telling me his plans on your Christmas present, and I gotta say, I think he's got a good one in store for you! I can't tell you though, of course."

"Of course," I said, thinking nothing of it, "Okay then, works for me."

A few minutes later Kakashi appeared on top of the bridge's arch as he always did. "Hello everyone," he said, "Sorry I'm a little late." Kakashi was Sakura, Naruto and I's mentor. I looked up to him often, and overall I think he's a pretty cool guy for the most part. At this point we'd all gotten used to him being late all the time, so it wasn't really a big deal anymore. None of us really said anything; Naruto looked like he was thinking really hard, as was Sakura, and I was just kinda lost in thought. "Hellooooo? You guys awake down there?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, we're alright!" Naruto said suddenly, breaking his thoughtful look that almost made him look somewhat intelligent.

"Just making sure," Kakashi said, "Now then, because it's Christmas Eve, we only have to do two D-rank missions today instead of the usual five that we have. Tomorrow is Christmas, and there'll be no missions then of course. Don't even bother coming to this bridge; you've got the entire day off."

Naruto jumped for joy, I said, "SWEET!" and Sakura grinned excitedly. Just two missions! Usually our D-rank missions consisted of simple chores: pulling weeds out, walking a dog, picking up litter from the river, cleaning chimneys and so on, and they didn't take us long at all. I looked at my watch, which read 10:00 AM. With two missions only, it would probably take us at the very most an hour for both, which means by 11:00 (or maybe noon if they were difficult chores), we would have the entire day to ourselves to do whatever we wanted to do.

**

We'd gotten done with our chores at 11:25, as they were fairly easy. It was all a matter of pulling weeds and finding some fat woman's lost cat again, (she'd lost it way more than once. I felt horrible for the cat when I saw that fat woman pretty much hug/squeeze the life out of the poor fella when they were reunited). After that, we pretty much had the entire day to ourselves after Kakashi dismissed us. I was walking down the street with Naruto and Sakura, just kinda following them because I had nothing better to do.

"So where are you going now, Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"Ehh, think I'm gonna get myself some ramen!" Naruto replied.

"Didn't you have that for breakfast?" I asked, "Y'know, ramen's great and all, but eating the same thing for every meal could get unhealthy."

"Hey, I've been eating ramen almost all my life and I've never had any trouble!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sakura leaned towards me and said, "Or he thinks he's never had any trouble anyways." I chuckled a little at that, knowing what she meant, and said to Naruto with a good-humored grin, "Who knows, maybe those missing brain cells of yours have been secretly ramen-ized or something!"

"HEY! Watch it pal!" yelled Naruto. I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.

After that whole ordeal, Naruto asked Sakura, "So where are you going then?"

"Well, I have to get ready for a Christmas Eve party, so I'm probably gonna head back home." She replied.

This didn't really surprise me; Sakura always liked going to those parties, and I didn't really care much for them if they were too formal. I asked Sakura, "What key is it?" Sakura gave a look that said "_What are you talking about???"_, and I tried again saying, "Y'know, is it a high-key, low-key, how formal is it?"

"Ohhhh, I gotcha!" Sakura said, "It's not really formal at all. Just a gathering of people having a good time with some music, I think there's gonna be a concession stand there, a video game room, a-"

I stopped her there and said, "Whoa whoa whoa…did you say…a video game room?!"

"…Yes, I did," Sakura said, "Anyways-"

"Can I come!?" I asked Sakura.

"Sure," Sakura replied, "it's open to everyone who wants to come. _Anyways, _I believe there's also going to be a theatre room with a projector, there's going to be lots of mini-games set up, pizza will be served-"

"Will there be ramen?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, there will be ramen served as well-"

"SWEET!!!" Naruto exclaimed, "I'm SO coming! Believe it!!!"

Sakura sighed and said, "Oh fine…you can come too…"

"Hey! You say that as if it's a bad thing!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sakura put on a smile and said, "No, I didn't mean it like that." I figured she was probably lying to get Naruto off her back, but I wasn't about to call her on it. At any rate, Naruto looked somewhat satisfied with her response and said, "The party's gonna be awesome!!!"

"Say, what time is it on anyways?" I asked. "Where is it too?" I added.

"From 5:00 pm, till 1:00 am at the very latest," Sakura replied, "at the Hokage Mansion."

I was surprised to hear that it was located at Hokage Mansion. "Does Tsunade have a hand in this as well?"

"Not only does she have a hand in it, she's the one who's setting it all up AND the one who came up with the idea," Sakura replied, "Lady Tsunade and Shizune have been working on the plans for that since Thanksgiving. They were also talking about throwing a party on Christmas Day as well."

"Interesting…" I said to myself. After that we parted ways; I went to my house, Naruto headed to Ichiraku's Ramen Shop and Sakura headed to her place.

I got to my house and checked the time. It was a little past noon. I had almost five hours to do whatever I wanted. I felt like having coffee, so I made myself some, sat on my chair and daydreamed for a few hours. Yeah, that's pretty much what I do when I'm at my house; I'm sleeping, playing video games or daydreaming the day away in my chair in front of the fireplace. Unfortunately, the TV had been broken for who knows how long, and I hadn't bothered to fix it, so I'd resorted to daydreaming in front of the fireplace for most of my free time. Occasionally I would train to make my chakra and my skills more efficient, but it seemed like there was less and less of a need for that every day. Still, I would every once in a while break out a lightning move or two on a wooden dummy for the heck of it.

At about 4:00 someone knocked at my door. I got up and answered it, and my eyes settled upon Ino. Ino and I were friends of a sort; we didn't really know each other too intimately, but we got along with each other better than most people. She helps run a flower shop with her family, and many is the time I have gone to that shop to obtain some flowers for…my own purposes. I occasionally even helped her out in the flower shop as well. "Hi Ino, how's it been?" I greeted her, "Wanna come in for a sec?"

"No, that's alright," Ino said, "I just wanted to let you know that there's a party going on in about an hour from now, if you wanted to come. I'm helping decorate and everything, and I was wondering if you were coming or not."

"Actually, I already heard about if from Sakura," I replied, "And yes, I do plan on coming. Why did you come all the way here just to tell me specifically for anyways?"

Ino raised her eyebrows ever so slightly and said, "Don't get any ideas that this is some kind of special visit or anything; I'm going around town telling people."

I grinned and said teasingly, "Ohhh, riiiiight, of course you are! Very clever cover-up, Ino!" For some reason, I loved teasing Ino like this. Many is the time where I've teased her so much that her reactions were priceless, as were her facial expressions. I didn't really try to do that today though.

Ino smiled and just shook her head with a facial expression that said, _"Yeah, that's James alright…"_

"But anyways," I said, "Yes, I will come. Do you know who else is coming?"

"Pretty much everyone," Ino replied, "I gotta head out now to tell everyone else, okay?"

"Hehe, alright then," I said. We exchanged farewells, and I went back inside. The clock read 4:23 pm. _I'd better start getting ready…_ Thankfully I'd already delivered all of my Christmas presents to everyone the day before, so I didn't have to worry about that. Most people came by and dropped off their presents to me as well already. Everything was covered, so I grabbed my black sweater-jacket, looked myself in the mirror a little to make sure nothing was on my face or anything like that, put my shoes on, and headed out.

**

I entered Hokage Mansion and looked around. The place seemed pretty empty, to my surprise. I walked a little bit before coming across a staircase that went one way down and one way up. A makeshift sign was put up that said "Party is Downstairs" in big, bold letters. I took it that the party was probably downstairs, and headed down.

A huge room I'd never entered before (or just never bothered entering) was where I found myself at after I hit the bottom of the stairs. Shades of various pinks, blues, reds, greens and purples and such were lighted all across the room, balloons were set up, and I could pretty much tell that there was going to be confetti in this party. A huge stereo set took up almost an entire wall, and I assumed this is where the dance floor would be. Tables and chairs were set up to the aside from the dance floor. I found it odd that the entire place was pretty much empty, until I looked at my watch and discovered I was fifteen minutes early. _No wonder no one's here yet…_

"Hey James," I heard Ino's voice call. I jumped, startled, but soon spotted her in a remote corner of the room with Sakura as well. "Glad you could make it!"

"I didn't even see you two over there; you gave me a startle!" I exclaimed.

"We're just tying up a few loose ends over here," Sakura said, "Care to help out a bit?"

"Sure, why not?" I said, and I went over to help fill the last few balloons and stuff a – get this – a piñata shaped like a dart board and helped hang it up. I didn't need to use a ladder or anything since I was way taller than either of them, reaching 5'11. After that we just hung around for a few more minutes until the first people arrived, who were Naruto, Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru. Kiba and I were pretty good friends, and we got along well. Many is the time where we have played each other at Air Hockey. I often hung out with Shikamaru, watching the clouds peacefully drift by with him. I'd hardly ever seen much of Choji, to be honest, other than him being with Shikamaru.

The first thing I heard any of them say was, "Where's the ramen!?" You can guess who asked that: Naruto.

"Patience," I said to Naruto, "They're getting a huge truckload of ramen delivered straight from Ichiraku's later." Naruto's eyes widened and I think he drooled a bit. "I'll take that as a thanks!" I said, grinning.

After that more and more people started showing up. The next people to show were all of Gai's squad: Rock Lee, Tenten and Neji. Rock Lee and I often tested each others' combat abilities by challenging each other to fights and duels and such, so we'd become close training buddies I guess you could call it. Same with Tenten and I, only instead of fighting with bare hands, Tenten and I trained with various weapons. My favorite weapon by far is the five-foot spear with spearheads on both sides that she had. There's something about Neji that always bothered me, but I can't quite place it. In any case, I never really cared to get to know him all that much in the first place, and we didn't exactly get along very well. Other various people I didn't really know had come as well.

"Let's get this party started!" Ino yelled as she approached the huge stereo system and clicked a button. From the stereo I heard "_The world is a vampire" _and I immediately got super excited. The song was actually called "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," and it was by my favorite band, The Smashing Pumpkins. I sung along with it the entire way through until it changed tracks.

I was kinda just mingling with the crowd when I bumped right into Shino. "Oops, sorry about that, didn't mean to." I said, "Hey, I never saw you come in! You're quiet, you know that?"

"Isn't that how ninja are supposed to act?" Shino asked.

"Sure, when they're on a mission, but loosen up a bit! This is the Christmas Eve party here!" I exclaimed. Shino simply got out of the crowd and sat in one of the chairs. The same thing that bugged me about Neji also bugged me about Shino (no pun intended). Maybe I just don't get along with the really serious ones as well as I do the others. I let him go, and decided to pursue Kiba to see if he knew anything about Hinata's whereabouts.

Hinata Hyuga…Ino says that I'm completely obsessed about her. I disagree; I'm just in complete love with her, that's all. Whenever I'm around her, I feel as light as a feather and as fragile as an antique piece of pottery. I'm really, really shy around her, almost as shy as Hinata is around Naruto. I've only told three people about how I feel about Hinata: Sakura, Ino and Kiba. Thankfully, I had the ability to control myself so that while I was feeling really shy on the inside, I'd never let it show on the outside. The last thing I wanted to do is to have Hinata know that I felt that way about her, and send her into a huge turmoil of confusion concerning whether she should choose me or Naruto. I don't want to put her in a position where she has to make that difficult of a decision. I was in love with her, and I was fine with whatever makes her happiest, even if that means her being with Naruto in the future. If she's happy that way, then I'm happy that way.

Nevertheless, I still wanted to be good friends with her anyways. I finally found Kiba taking a break and sitting back on one of the chairs, watching the dance floor. I went up to him and asked, "You have any idea where Hinata is?"

"Not at all," Kiba said, "I thought she might come here, but I also thought she might be too shy. Maybe she's just late or something." I thanked him, and went into the crowd once more, not really dancing, but more just kinda mingling. I didn't really know how to dance at all, and I wasn't about to make a fool out of myself trying…not yet anyways.

About half an hour later, and the party was on in full force. The video game room opened up, and I was the first inside. Plenty of games were set up in there, ranging from old school games like Dig Dug and Pac-Man to really new games like Halo 3 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and everything in between. They even had free pinball machines there too.

At about 6:30 the ramen was mass-delivered, and I decided to help Sakura and Ino by passing the ramen out to everyone who wanted it. Maybe two minutes after the ramen came, the pizza came as well. I helped once more with all of the food.

Around 7:30 I nearly fainted. Why, you ask? I'd just seen Hinata walk through the door, that's why. I didn't expect her to be here at all, but alas she was here now. I went up to her and asked, "And where have you been all this time?" with a slight smile. Trust me, while I looked okay on the outside, my innards were doing backflips and my heart was pounding so hard that I thought I may have a heart attack soon. A heart attack at my age, there's a thought for you!

"Oh…well I…I was just getting…um…prepared." Hinata replied in that heart-melting voice of hers.

"Hehe, well okay then," I said, "Hope you have fun!" I then proceeded to walk away. I wasn't sure how much of that I could take before I'd give myself away, so I had to get away before that happened.

About a few minutes later I noticed an open door that I hadn't seen before. I went into the room, and it was actually a theatre. Rows upon rows of chair were set up, and Ino was at the center trying to get the projector to work. Upon seeing me, Ino said, "Hey James, could you come over here for a sec? I need help with this projector thing!" I chuckled and went to help her. I was always really good with electronics and knowing which cords plug in where, and I had the projector up and running within minutes. "Sweet, thanks James!" said Ino, "Now we can watch 'A Christmas Story'!" While I was in the theatre, I faintly heard confetti cannons going off in the dance room.

"Hey, I love that movie," I exclaimed, "I'm so watching it!" And so I did watch it, and it was a good time had by all. Once that was over, the party continued. I felt myself getting a little tired, and I looked at my watch which read "11:49 pm". _Damn…it's getting late…but I wanna stay!!!_

Ino apparently had this brilliant plan that she would break out some alcohol at the stroke of midnight that no one else had known of. There were all kinds of wines, beers, rums, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Around this time Ino came up to me and asked, "Want a drink James?"

"Nah, I don't like any alcohol at all," I replied, "Except for Champagne, but I doubt you have-" Ino cut me off by raising a bottle of Champagne so that I could see it. "-any…because it's…too…expensive…" I finished.

"C'mon, you've gotta give me more credit than that." Ino said with a smirk.

I looked at the bottle, looked at Ino, looked at the bottle, looked at the time, looked at the bottle, then finally decided that one glass couldn't hurt that bad. "Oh fine, pour me one," I said, "But JUST one!"

"Okay okay!" Ino said as she was already pouring a glass. She filled it up to the rim, gave it to me, filled her own glass and held it up. "To the holidays," she said, and then added with a silly smile, "and to us hopefully getting drunk out of our minds before this night is over!" I had to set my glass down, I was laughing so hard at that. When I'm tired, I often laugh at things a lot more than I would normally. After my laughing fit, we said "Cheers", tapped glasses and drank. She took a little bit more of a drink then I did, only taking a sip. "It's been way too long since I had champagne! A couple of years I think!"

"Heh, I only have alcohol on special occasions, such as holidays like this." Ino replied.

"Same here. Wanna sit down? I'm getting kinda tired standing up so much."

"Sure, why not?" Ino and I both sat down. I took another sip of my glass, and I was staring at Hinata from afar, fantasizing about her and I being together. Ino noticed my staring at Hinata, and asked, "So why do you like Hinata so much anyways?" I looked at her strangely, and she added, "I'm just curious, that's all."

"Well…" I began as I took another sip. I must have been taking larger sips than I thought, because my glass was almost half empty already. "Everything about her I like. Her voice, her eyes, her…"

"Her…?" Ino prompted me.

I blushed a little and said, "Her shyness…"

Ino laughed and said, "You're attracted to her because she's shy, huh? Interesting!"

"Oh, be quiet you!" I said as I took another drink. "Anyways, YES, her shyness does attract me to an extent." I noticed that Ino's glass was completely empty. She poured herself another glass and asked me, "Want a refill?"

"Sure, why not?" I said. Ino refilled hers and my glasses to the top, and we both took a sip.

"But what I mean is," Ino began, "What is the main thing that, in your mind, separates her from – oh, let's just say – me?"

That was a difficult question for me. I took another sip and realized that my glass was half empty already. _Huh…wonder where all of that champagne could have went? I couldn't have drank all of it…could I?_ I remembered the question Ino asked, and said, "Well, it's kinda hard to explain. There's just…something I see in her that most other girls don't have, no offense Ino."

"None taken," she replied, "Just go on."

"Maybe it's how much she cares about her friends or something…I dunno actually, now that I think of it!" I said rather loudly. "Judging by my character, you'd think to balance my personality out or something I'd end up liking someone like you, Ino, but for some reason I don't!" Ino's facial expression was a mix of "Oh really, is that so?" and "Uhh…okay???", "It makes no sense when I think about it! Two shy people? Nah, that wouldn't balance out at all! They shouldn't anyways!" I drank the rest of my glass and asked for another refill, and Ino refilled my glass full of my third glass of champagne this night.

"Are you okay, James?" Ino asked, "You look a little dazed, and you're talking louder than usual."

I downed my third glass in no time, and I started feeling light-headed. I checked the time, and I couldn't tell if it was 12:32 or 23:21. This is when I knew that I'd had too much to drink, and I asked Ino to take my glass away.

You'll have to forgive me, but my memory is pretty foggy at this point. I remember a few points in the night though. At one point I remembered dancing some weird cross between a crab-walk and a break-dance when I hit my head flat on the ground and everyone laughed. I also remember being at a table alone, feeling depressed and lonely. Another thing I remember was kissing a girl…I don't remember who (it was told to me the next day, though). I remember very faintly quoting silly Monty Python episodes at random, and everyone laughing and having a good time. I remember walking in the dark with Sakura holding me, opening my door, setting me on my bed and leaving. I remember me feeling very lonely and depressed before I fell asleep.

**

I woke up the next morning thinking _Holy smokes…what happened last night?_ I couldn't remember a thing that happened the night prior. I felt really weird, and I didn't know why. Other than that, I woke up thinking that it was just another day. Got up, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, took a shower, and headed out to the bridge where Naruto, Sakura and I would wait for Kakashi every day for the missions assigned to us.

Naruto and Sakura were there as usual, but for some reason I felt like something was off. Maybe it was my sixth sense kicking in or something, but there was something unusual about today. I tried remembering what had happened yesterday, but no cigar. We exchanged greetings as usual, and waited for Kakashi as usual.

Naruto, of course, was the first to break the silence. He asked me, "So what did you get for your Christmas presents, James?"

I looked at him strangely and said, "Christmas presents?"

"Yeah, y'know, the ones you got yesterday for Christmas?" Naruto looked at me with a dry look and said, "Don't tell me you've forgotten about Christmas already?"

It took a little bit for my mind to register what Naruto was saying, and then I realized it. Almost everything came back to me from last night, and I realized that today is Christmas. "Haha, ohh right, today's Christmas!" I replied, "Right, right, I haven't opened any of my presents yet!"

"Uhh, James?" Sakura asked.

"What?"

"Christmas was yesterday. Today is December 26th. Don't you remember at all?" Sakura asked.

Now I was completely and utterly confused. _If today was the day after Christmas, and if Christmas was yesterday, then I must be remembering about what happened last night. But I thought last night was the Christmas Eve party…_ I asked Sakura, "Was I there for the Christmas DAY party?"

"Uhh…James, there was no Christmas Day party," Sakura replied, "Tsunade decided that the Christmas Eve party was enough."

"What, but that doesn't make any sense!?" I exclaimed, "If there was no Christmas Day party, then why am I remembering what happened yesterday at a party?" I was slightly panicky as this point. "I remember you and Ino being there, and Ino too!" I'd repeated Ino's name as a result of my slight panicky feeling, "You two helped set it up! There was ramen and pizza delivered, and 'A Christmas Story' in the theatre room! You're telling me that what I'm remembering was from two days ago?"

"From what you said, it sounds like it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah, that was the Christmas Eve party alright," Sakura confirmed, "You're remembering that one for sure."

"But then…" I trailed off for a moment, then I asked, "…then why can't I remember anything from Christmas?"

Sakura sighed heavily, and she looked like she was holding something back. I looked at her and said, "What aren't you telling me, Sakura?"

"You're not going to like this, James."

"Tell me anyways."

"…Okay…" Sakura said tentatively, "I noticed that you got…well…you got drunk on Christmas Eve, so after the party I took you home and set you down on your bed to get some sleep. You were tired and drunk at the same time, so I could tell you really needed it…" Sakura hesitated for a moment, then went on, "I went back to check on you on Christmas morning, and you were still asleep. I didn't really think much of it; I expected that you'd be out like a light until maybe noon or so. I checked on you again around 2:00 in the afternoon…" Again Sakura hesitated, "…and you were still asleep. I checked again at 5:00, and you were _still _asleep. James…I think you completely slept through Christmas…"

I was in complete and utter shock at first, which followed by denial. "You're lying!" I pointed at Sakura and then at Naruto, yelling, "You're BOTH lying!!! This is some kind of cheap trick!! I can't have missed all of Christmas! There's just no way!!! You're LYING!!!"

"Go check for yourself," Sakura said solemnly, "Everyone in town'll say it's the day after Christmas."

Now I was getting really mad. "You're all LIARS, and I'll PROVE IT!!!" I yelled at them. After that I promptly ran away from the bridge and into the village, heading to the Yamanaka Flower Shop that Ino and her family owned. I got to the flower shop, headed inside and saw Ino at the counter where she usually was. "Ino!!!" I nearly yelled.

"Hi there James!" Ino said, a little flustered, "What's up?"

"You've gotta tell me what day it is!" I said as I frantically grabbed her arms and shook her back and forth, "Please don't tell me I'm going crazy!!! It's supposed to be Christmas TODAY, right!? Today's Christmas, right!?" I stopped shaking her so that she could answer.

"James, it's the day after Christmas!" Ino exclaimed, "And where were you yesterday anyways? I was looking all over for you!"

I was frustrated beyond all belief now. "You're in it too!?!?" I yelled at her. I immediately let go of her and stormed out of the flower shop, leaving her confused and befuddled. I spotted Kiba walking down the street, and I ran to him yelling, "HEY KIBA!!! WHAT DAY IS IT!?!?!?!?"

"Dude, calm down!" Kiba said, "And it's the 26th; the day after Christmas."

"No…there's no way…no…" I said to myself.

_I must have actually, truly slept through all of Christmas…I missed everything…I missed spending time with all of my friends…I missed 24 hours of who knows what…I missed it all…and all because I was a bit drunk and over-tired…I missed it all…_ I was completely crushed by this prospect. I walked slowly back home, not noticing that I was repeatedly saying, "I missed it all…I missed it all…" under my breath.

I got home, opened my door, went inside and sat down on my chair. I didn't know what to do. I was completely and utterly beaten by the fact that I had done something so stupid and idiotic as to have gotten drunk and completely missed out on Christmas. I saw all of my presents under the plastic tree I had set up, but I didn't feel like unwrapping any of them. I missed everything, EVERYTHING. I couldn't bear it any longer, and as the realization set in fully I started to notice that I was crying. I suppose for a boy, I'm oversensitive, but I couldn't help it.

Someone knocked on the door. I didn't answer it. Another knock. I didn't answer it. I heard the door open, and I heard Hinata's voice say, "James-kun, are you in here?"

Immediately I regained control of myself and stopped crying within milliseconds, though it was obvious that I'd been crying before. I said in a low voice, "Yeah, I'm here…" without even turning to look at Hinata. I just stared at the fireplace as I heard her footsteps approaching closer and closer. I didn't feel shy, I didn't feel anything for her at the moment that was like that, I was too depressed and upset with myself to feel anything like that. I soon realized that she was pretty much right beside me, and only then did I look up at her to see that she was holding a box with periwinkle-colored wrapping and a blue ribbon tied to it.

She held the periwinkle box out for me and said, "Merry Christmas, James-kun." In a quiet voice.

I looked at the box, looked at her, started staring at the fireplace again and said, "I'm in no mood for unwrapping presents…"

"…what's wrong?" Hinata asked.

With Hinata in the room, with all of this happening, with the way I was, and with her still saying "Merry Christmas" to me when it was already long gone, and a multitude of other things I was feeling and thinking, it all came together and made me snap.

I got up and said, "I'll tell you what's wrong," to Hinata in a tone of voice that I'd never thought I'd speak to her in. I paced to the other side of the room, turned around to Hinata and started shouting, "I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG!!! I just missed out on all of this year's Christmas, THAT'S what's wrong!!! All of that time I could have spent with my friends, with you, with anyone, ALL GONE!!! And why!? Because I was STUPID enough to get DRUNK on CHRISTMAS EVE and SLEEP THROUGH THE ENTIRE DAY!!! I MISSED EVERYTHING!!! I missed the time that we all could have been spending together, and THAT, unlike any gift, CAN'T BE REPLACED!!! And now you come in here with the gall to say 'Merry Christmas' to me AND BRING A PITY GIFT!?!? WHY IN THE HELL DIDN'T ANYONE WAKE ME UP!?!? Why couldn't you have come here and shook me awake EIGHTEEN HOURS AGO!?!?!? DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH IT MEANT TO ME!?!? DO YOU!?"

"James-kun…" Hinata started, "…it's Christmas today."

I paused for a second, then said loudly, "What kind of fool do you take me for anyhow!? Why am I even wasting time here!? If it's really not Christmas, then I'd better get to the bridge and wait for Kakashi like I usually do!!!" I paced to the door, and I was about to open the door when I realized what I had done. I turned around to Hinata and said, "My god Hinata…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to-"

"Maybe…" Hinata interrupted, "you should just…open the door and get going…you're right…Kakashi-sama, he's…probably waiting. It's…it's ok…I…I forgive you…"

"…you don't know how much that means to me, Hinata," I told her in a low, apologetic voice, "Thank you." With that I turned around, opened the door and beheld a sight I'd never expected.

All of my Genin friends were standing outside the doorway: Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, Ino, Lee, Tenten and all of the rest of them too. As soon as I had opened the door, they had all shouted, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" at the same time.

"Wait…what?" I asked all of them.

"It really is Christmas Day," Ino replied, "We just thought we'd pull a prank on you for the heck of it!"

"That and we were also curious to know whether you REALLY cared as much about spending time with your friends as you always said you did." Sakura added.

At this point I was grinning, and I said, "You have GOT to be kidding me!!!"

Everyone said "Nope!" at the same time.

I was bewildered to say the least. I couldn't believe they had all been in on this prank they pulled on me. I turned back to look at Hinata, who was beaming as she once again held out the periwinkle package and said, "Merry Christmas James-kun."

I was so overwhelmed with joy, relief and excitement that I couldn't resist but walk right up to Hinata, take the periwinkle package from her and set it down where the other packages were, turn back to Hinata and kiss her for about five seconds on the lips. After I forced myself to withdraw, I saw her face turning a deep shade of red. At that moment I had forgotten that everyone was watching, until after the kiss everyone cheered and I thought I heard a "Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo!" from Kiba as well. I was pretty embarrassed by this, and I think my face turned a deep red as well.

Later that day, we had all gathered inside my house and I asked, "So whose bright idea was it to trick me into thinking that I had slept all the way through Christmas anyways?"

I heard Naruto nervously giggle, and Sakura said, "That would be Naruto's doing." Naruto nodded to confirm that.

"Naruto," I said to him in a quiet, sinister tone, "You'd better be grateful that it's Christmas, or else you wouldn't be giggling right now" Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to see why I had suddenly changed moods so fast. Naruto stopped giggling nervously.

"Uhhh…hey man, it was just a joke, right?" Naruto said nervously.

"It wasn't just a joke to me." I said in the same tone. I glared at Naruto for about five seconds, the room seemed to get darker. Then I suddenly laughed. "I'm just kidding dude! While it was kind of a mean thing to do to me, I'm not about to kill you or anything because of it!"

That Christmas we had so much fun afterwards, because mind you, we had the entire day still after I discovered that it was all just a trick. We had a lot of fun at my place; I broke out all of the games that I had that day. We ate fudge and cake that Sakura made by herself (which, by the way, Sakura is probably the most amazing pastry chef I've ever known), and I made the main meals with Ino's help. While there was no party or anything like the Christmas Eve party we had, I think we enjoyed ourselves much more then instead of going to another party. Cheer was all around, good times were had that day, and it's probably one in one of the top ten days of my entire life.

To this day, Hinata and I both agree that it was the best Christmas any of us had ever had.


End file.
